Beauty Feast: A TASTE OF THE EASTZEAST CHRISTMAS MENU

When the email dropped into my inbox inviting me to attend a taster session for the EastZEast Christmas menu I didn't hesitate to say yes. Indian food is one of my favourite cuisines so I was extremely excited to try the festive menu and took Si along with me to sample the food.

I've never dined at EastZEast so I did a little bit of a Google search to find out what they were all about. There are several of their restaurants around the country including Birmingham, Liverpool, Preston, Bury and two in Manchester including their Riverside restaurant which we visited on Monday night.

Arriving by car we were pleased to know that they offer free valet parking. This was an instant plus point for us as we don't live in the city itself and prefer not to rely on public transport when we go out for a meal. Finding somewhere secure to park in the city centre is a real pain and so this is definitely one of the things that would encourage us to return.

Knowing that our car was safely parked up we were free to enjoy the rest of the night. Heading for the bar I perused the cocktail menu. There was a nice selection including classics such as mojito and pina colada but as my favourite spirit is Jack Daniels I opted for a Lynchburg Lemonade and watched as the barman created my drink in front of me. Using fresh lemon juice and a healthy splash of Jack topped up with lemonade, my drink was finished off with a cute heart shaped straw and a garnish of a raspberry and strawberry. I always drink J.D with cola so I was excited to try something a little different. My cocktail was delicious and fresh tasting and certainly something that I would try again. Not being a cocktail drinker, Si opted for Peroni from their selection of bottled beers. Later on in the evening I spotted a Bellini and, being partial to a bit of fizz, decided to order one. Mango purée was topped up generously with champagne and it tasted divine.

For the meal we were seated in the private dining room which is decorated really nicely with chandeliers, a huge table and insanely comfortable chairs. To start with we were presented with a selection of pickles and chutneys along with fresh crisp poppadoms. I've never been to an Indian restaurant which offered such a huge range of different pickles so of course I had to try them all! The selection included fresh mint sauce, garlic pickle, mixed pickles, mango chutney, plum chutney, sweet chilli sauce, red onions and desi chutney. They were all rather tasty but I love a good chutney and mint sauce.

Next up was the starter of which we tried two. The Chicken Boti, succulent chunks of chicken breast marinated in spices, was pretty amazing and hands down my favourite of the two. I could have easily devoured an entire plate of this! The second dish, Tandoori Lamb Chops, was pretty good too. The meat was really tender and very tasty. I do really wish we had been able to try the Onion Bhajis as these are my ultimate favourite Indian food, however it was nice to try something different for once.

For the main course we tried three dishes from the Christmas menu. I loaded up my plate with a healthy spoonful of each along with some rice and naan bread. The Chicken Tikka Makhani consisted of grilled chicken breast, which was once again really succulent, in a spiced creamy sauce with almonds, pistachios and tomatoes. I enjoyed this one a lot. Aside from the chicken being really soft and tasty, the sauce was mild, sweet and delicious and perfect for someone who doesn't like their food very spicy. I'm not a big fan of seafood in curry but I still gave the seafood balti a try. I did like the sauce and found it to be full of flavour but I'm just not the worlds biggest fan of prawns. It contained big juicy chunks of king prawn and fish so for any seafood lovers this would be the perfect dish to choose. On to my favourite, the Lamb Sookha Bunah. Now I am a huge lover of lamb curry but in the past, at various other restaurants and takeaways, I've been majorly put off after being served tough, chewy and extremely unappetizing chunks of meat (to the point where I now only order vegetarian dishes from Indian takeaways). This lamb was completely the opposite and was incredibly soft and tender. Exactly how it should be! As with the other two dishes the sauce was very tasty and what I would describe as being medium spiced with a good kick to it without setting my mouth alight. It was my kind of curry and exactly what I would want to order from the menu.

In my opinion there is always room for dessert and I was pretty excited by the offerings on the menu. As I like nothing more than trying something completely new I chose the Gulab Jamun, a traditional Indian sweet dish. I had no idea what it was and was delighted by what was presented to me. Four moist round dumplings soaked in a sweet syrup were served with vanilla ice cream. My god were these good! The only thing wrong was that there wasn't enough on my plate! I really could have eaten a dozen more of these and I highly recommend that everyone should give them a go. It was the first time I had tried an Indian dessert and I'm very glad that I did. Si opted for Swiss Chocolate Cheesecake, also served with ice cream. I had a taste of this too (I think I ate half of his dessert, ooops!) and found it to be quite tasty and not too rich. It was a baked cheesecake so a little more dry than we were expected but still good. I do think the Gulab Jamun was the better dessert!

All of the food was of a high standard and was presented very well on the whole. I still can't get over the tenderness of all of the meat served and I would re-visit EastZEast knowing that I would be able to enjoy properly cooked meats rather than endure the chewy overdone nightmares from my local takeaway! Neither of us could fault the staff who were all very pleasant and very accommodating making sure we all had everything we needed. It's certainly a place that I would like to go back to again.

To find your nearest EastZEast restaurant and view the full menu visit their website. The Christmas menu will be available from 1st December.